Pad Thai.

Growing up in Utica doesn’t exactly expose you to food from around the world. Although my mom is an amazing cook, she never made Thai food. In fact, I don’t think I even tried Thai food until I was, like, 23 years old. Plus, there’s really only 1 or 2 Thai restaurants in Albany (unlike in the East Village NYC where there’s a Thai restaurant on every corner). And call me weird, but I haven’t been to Thailand. So I don’t think it’s crazy that I don’t know a lot about Thai food.

I had dinner at a Thai restaurant (Holy Basil) the other night in the East Village with my friend JP. Oh wait, let me first say this: I am a creature of habit. I eat the same 10 things over and over and over. When I go out for Thai food, I always get the same exact thing: Red Curry with Chicken (kang ped). If I’m feeling zany, I might get shrimp instead of chicken. So, I barely look at the menu because I go there craving kang ped. And that’s what I order. Every time.

So when I sat down with JP, he threw me for a loop and said, “do you want to get something to share?” (I hate sharing food. If you want to share my food, let’s just order 2 of them.) He suggested that we get Pad Thai to start. And I said, “what’s Pad Thai?”. You would have thought I asked, “what’s pizza?” because he came back at me with a fury of confusion. “WHAT’S PAD THAI!?!?!?!?!??!?!!? YOU’RE KIDDING ME!” I was like, “calm down. what is it?”. Apparently everyone on earth has heard of Pad Thai except for me. Now, anytime JP wants to make me feel stupid in front of other people he’ll say, “…and get this… Matt’s never heard of Pad Thai.” It’s so annoying.

I consider myself to be relatively cultured and feel that I’m pretty familiar with food from around the world (I’ve been to IHOP), so it does surprise me a little bit that I didn’t know what Pad Thai was. So, I thought I should ask around and see if JP was just acting like a food snob, or if everyone does in fact know what Pad Thai is. As much as I hate to admit it, JP was right. Everyone knows what Pad Thai is. Literally every single person I asked was like, “of course”. It’s weird. Where have you been all my life, Pad Thai?

53 Responses

I’ll fess up…I’ve heard of it, but never had it, and have no idea what it is. And I am MUCH older than you.

There are LOTS of foods that I never heard of that seem to be what everyone eats now. I NEVER heard of balsamic vinegar until about 3 or 4 years ago…but now it seems to be EVERYWHERE! I could create a LONG list of such foods.

I haven’t Googled Pad Thai yet (I will after I’m done commenting)and therefore I still don’t know what it is. I was hoping you would tell us (me). Growing up in northern NY (think St. Lawrence River) I never even tried sushi until I moved away for grad school. Needless to say, although I have been more adventurous in my tastings, I still have not ventured into Thai food. And now if you will excuse me, I have to do some online searching.

Well – let’s put it this way: most people who have ventured beyond pizza and burgers into ethnic cuisine have heard of it, even if they haven’t eaten it. Pad Thai is to Thai food what a California roll is to Japanese and Sweet and Sour Chicken is to Chinese food – its usually the first thing tried, or the thing that aficionados know is safe to introduce their formerly unacquainted friend with. And like EMB said, its a standard for Thai food, so you can sort of judge the restaurant by the quality of their Pad Thai. I tend to order it first time I go somewhere and if its good, I dare try their other dishes.

But, I’m also curious – did you try it? I have not had any that completely wow’ed me yet in the Capital District but I had some once in southern Cali that as *swoon* delicious.

I’ve never heard of it either. I heard Thai food tends to be pretty spicey so I don’t think I will be trying it anytime soon. I’ve also never had sushi….is that bad?! The idea of eating raw fish freaks me out.

Yes, heard of it, eaten it, made it at home. As far as making it at home, it would be good exercise for your knives, lots of chopping. Fish sauce, a necessary ingredient, is funky but adds tremendous flavor.

I never heard of it until a couple years ago. Where I grew up, your take out options were pizza or chinese.
I definitely agree with MKS – if you haven’t tried Sukothai, you must! It is a great little restaurant.

I think it’s this area. I know a lot of people for whom Albany is the big city and who’ve never even eaten Chinese food (and that’s loosely calling the American creations (or American-driven Chinese creations) that are served here as Chinese food). Even then people won’t stray beyond the wonton soup or the chicken with walnuts, sweet and sour yuck…No stuffed, duck flipper, chicken feet with chili, dim sum of any sort for them. No sirree.

Oh yeah, the topic is Thai. Not a Pad Thai fan; it’s a bit too bland, but I’ve heard of it.

I recommend Capital Thai on Central Ave near the Home Depot. Delicious food and great, friendly service.

I was introduced to Pad Thai in the mid-90’s. I liked it the first time I had it, but I don’t really care for it now. I like all of the individual ingredients, but like paella, I feel that the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

I loooooooooooooove pad Thai. I first tried it a few years ago because I got into watching The OC reruns and they always talked about eating Pad Thai for dinner. (I can’t believe I’m admitting this) and I didn’t know what it was but it looked pretty good. So, I ordered it – and loved it. Loooo-oooo-ooved it.

live right around the corner from Holy Basil, its a good one. Wouldnt have pegged a resterateur for a Pad Thai ignoramus (too strong?) give Bohdi Tree thai food a try, a block away on 3rd ave near 11th St.

SukoThai really fell off IMHO when ownership/management changed a few years back